Survival for All.
Alrighty, time for an update from Poznan.
Things are going slow here, which is bad. We have less than a year at this point to get an incredibly strong international climate agreement – that is not a very long time. Especially with the level of ambition many developed countries have. But there is hope!
The youth movement here is absolutely inspirational. That’s the only way to describe it. We are working together, without regard to national boarders, for our common future. We are determined to remove the brackets placed around our planet.
We’ve decided to really push the position of AOSIS – the Alliance of Small Island States. At this point, they are calling for stronger targets than anybody (even the NGOs) and are rallying around the idea, along with youth, that we must leave nobody behind in a climate deal. Especially small islands which will literally disappear if we don’t take incredibly strong action.
We must safeguard the survival of all countries and peoples.
There is no other way to put it. To do otherwise would be one of the greatest tragedies of all time – where the people of the world willingly condemn their brothers and sisters to the depths of the sea because they couldn’t kick the carbon habit.
We have lots to do… so lets do it! We need all of your help. Everybody is an ambassador for Small Islands at this point – we need to do everything we can to protect them. That means telling everybody we know about the issue and doing everything we can in terms of lifestyle, as well as political action, to stop catastrophic climate change.
If we wait any longer, it will be too late.
BaliBuzz: A-day-in-the-life
Right now there is an exceedingly long break in the action, so I thought I would take this time to give a look at what a day-in-the-life of a youth delegate at COP13 is like.
My Friday and Saturday:
6:00am – Wake up after far too little sleep. Start the day’s work. (Going to sleep around 2am on the hotel floor because you passed out while writing a press release for the following days action is not entirely uncommon. In this case it was for the “Please” banner activity seen to the left)
7:30 – Grab breakfast knowing it will probably be the last time I eat until dinner.
8:30 – Jump on the shuttle to the convention center (also, work on the press release with others)
8:30 – Run to the opposite end of the convention center because for some reason the two main conference buildings are really far apart.
9:00 – Attend the daily international youth meeting and get organized for the day (also, continue work on the press release)
10:00 – Meet and strategize with other youth regarding specific activities for the day.
10:30 – Work as a group to track down good quotes for the press release, finalize it, and send it to media contacts.
11:00 – Go to the “bunker,” a space designated as the youth command center (underneath a stairwell), to help with current tasks.
11:30 – Assist passing out flyers highlighting an absurd statement made by the US the previous day regarding climate change. “The US will lead, and we will continue to lead, but leadership also requires others to fall in line and follow.”- James
Connaughton
12:00 – Distribute green ribbons for people to tie around their arms as a show of solidarity with the youth movement and the need for strong action on climate change.
12:30 – Realize the banner for the days action still needs to be finished and that the press release still needs to be printed (the action is at 1, in 30 minutes). Finish both in the nick-of-time. International youth are amazing working together under pressure at this point.
1:00 – The youth statement at the high level plenary hasn’t been given yet. Aaagghhh. This is what we have all been waiting for! But we need to do our action! Well, the speech is way more important, we can just do the action late.
1:15 – The speech is amazing. Almost everybody is moved to tears in the high level plenary session at COP13. The energy in the room is incredible. Nobody is able to fully articulate what happened beyond simply saying it was unbelievably incredible. Thinking about it still makes the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. This is our future and we demand action. If the wrong decisions are made, we wont have time to go back and fix them.
1:25 – Rally tearful people around the activity, but realize we are now way past time and Avaaz.org is about to have their huge event – the presentation of roughly 2 million signatures calling for strong climate action. We’ve been working with Avaaz for the past 2 weeks and being the awesome people they are, we decide to combine actions. We hold our sign that simply says “Please” as the petitions are presented.
2:00 – Decompress from the mornings activities on the way to a Climate Action Network (CAN) strategy meeting on the other side of the conference center. Get updated on the current state of play.
4:00 – Rush back to the main conference center to make it in time for the US Press Conference, only to find out it isn’t taking place.
4:30 – Meet with the SustainUS delegation for a last formal debrief of the past 2 weeks. Get all warm and fuzzy inside.
5:30 – Head over to “Fossil of the Day,” a daily award given by CAN to the countries most climate-unfriendly the previous day. Usually the US is up there. This time around we had a stand-off with Canada for “Fossil of the Year” where US and Canadian youth performed a song/dance to the tune of “anything you can do, I can do better” to see who would get it. In the end, Canada and the US decided to share first place, admitting we were equally destructive in the negotiating process.
6:30 – After fossil, a conga-line started up which snaked out of the conference center. Once we get outside we perform “oooooo, it’s hot in here,” the unofficially official youth climate song and dance.
7:00 – Head to the last International Youth debrief where we discuss next steps and actions for the year to build on the momentum started here in hopes of creating a sustained global youth climate movement. Get all warm and fuzzy inside again.
8:30 – Go and get food! Take about an hour to relax and reflect on the day. What a crazy day it has been.
9:30pm – Return to the plenary where the negotiations are supposed to begin again.
2:00am – Realize I fell asleep on the floor a few hours ago and that the negotiations still haven’t started.
3:00am – Return to the Hotel after learning the talks will resume at 8am.
6:30am – Wake up after learning that the Canadians who slept at the conference center need back-up. It’s time to take action.
7:30 – Rush to the conference center and plan what we are going to do. Make some quick banners and head to the entrance. A sign that says “Please” (since we couldn’t find the one used the day before) surrounded by US flags and a banner the Canadians made that simple stated “This will follow you home” with a background of the Canadian flag. Got a bit of media coverage, but we were there for the official delegates. We were there to let them know we are watching and waiting.
8:30 – Return to the plenary room and the negotiations get going again!
9:15 – The session is adjourned due to contentious language in the text. What’s supposed to by a 20 minute break to determine positions on the issue turns into 2 hours.
11:15am – The session resumes, but is quickly closed again when great concern is brought up over the fact that the requested ministerial meetings are happening at the same time, which means discussion can’t go forward until they are finished. This is going to be a long day.
Present – And that’s where I am now. I hope this gives a better idea of what 30 hours at the COP might entail. What’s amazing is that everybody else here was equally or even more busy. The youth here are incredibly inspiring and intensely dedicated. We are doing everything we can to pressure our leaders and ensure a safe and just future for all.
Photos!
This is an incomplete post salvaged from the internet archive.
-by Juan
We are happy to share some photos taken during our time in Kenya. You will find photos from the Conference of Youth, the United Nations Conference, some photos of the youth delegation, and photos from travels of the members of the SustainUS crew in Africa. We will continue to upload more images, please keep checking.
Hope you enjoy them!
Closing session… the count down
-by Juan
9:20pm : The COPMOP2 has adopted all decisions. The issues of voluntary commitments have been forwarded for futher consultation prior to COP13. All decisions adopted can be characterized as insignificant compromises. Russia accepted to move on without a decision on their proposal for commitments by non -Annex I parties in return for accepting Belarus into the ‘hot air’ club. The revision of the Kyoto will occur in 2008, and Parties missed the opportunity to improve the Protocol in Nairobi. For now, all the ‘climate tourist’ say good-bye from the Safari COP and will meet for yet another expensive meeting in Indonesia, perhaps for a Surf COP.
730pm: The 12th Conference of the parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change is closed. We now move to the tricky part of this meeting: the closing of the 2nd Meeting of the Parties of the Kyoto Protocol. We truly hope that negotiations will be done before midnight, thought last year we were not able to move from the plenary until 630am. Many issues to still need to be addressed and resolved: the Russian proposal for voluntary commitments, the Belarusian intent to join Annex I to inject ‘hot air’ in the emission trading system, and the issues pertinent to Article 9 and the review of Kyoto. We wont move from here until progress is made, and we will update IGHGH frequently.
Also our business
-by Sarah
“Adaptation is also our business,” was the title of a side even this afternoon put on by members of the EU. The room was packed, and as we sat in rows and sweated, the presenters made some interesting and important points.
According to IPCC predictions, the Mediterranean is going to be one of the areas of the world most affected by climate change. Christina Narbona, Minister of Environment for Spain, pointed out that Spain is already experiencing massive dispalcement of population, severe droughts, a predicted 5-14% decrease in water resources in the 2030 horizon, and is also a developed nation which will be one of the first to receive migrants from Africa if and when the effects of more drastic climate change displaces them. Spain is also one of the only nations to have developed a NAPA (a National Adaptation Plan of Action). This includes trying to optimize water resources (currently Spain has very low water price and very high water consumption) and increase water resources. The plan also includes a lot of investment in research into future scenarios, which leaves me wondering about urgency and priority, two concepts which are difficult to concretize in this context because, in terms of the future, absolute certainty can never exist. The question and answer period brought an intelligent question to the minister: what about when adaptation plans undermine mitigation plans, such as the increased energy it would require to run desalinization plants to increase water supply? To this, the minister responded that there exists a program to produce renewable energy at the same rate as engergy conumption increases. (This, however, includes such things as hydro-electric dams, which wreak their own kind of environmental havoc, and on top of that, Spain has the second largest number of dams in the world.) The question of justice and equality also arises: Spain has the infrastructure to develop a NAPA, and compared to developing countries is very well off. However, like all nations, and perhaps (because of its location) moreso than other developed nations, it will be suffering from the predicted environmental changes as well. What is its responsibility to its own people and to those of other nations? What is everyone’s role in this world of changes? Big questions, and, like most big questions, probably unanswerable until we see what roles we take.
Francois Gemenne of the University of Liege pointed out the current and future problems of environmental refugees. Under the Geneva Convention, environmental refugees are not recognized. However, as Gemenne stated, recognition under Geneva probably wouldn’t meet the needs of environmental refugees (it is intended to protect those fleeing political turmoil), and anyway only applies to parties to the convention, which consists mostly of Northern states. According to the now-infamous Stern report, 200 million people could be permanently displaced by 2050, mostly due to rising sea levels (the Small Island Developing States (SIDS), those in the Arctic, and those living in coastal cities and floodplains). Village relocation, I found out, is already happening. For example, the US government apparently pays for trucks to come in to Arctic villages with cranes and physically move them.
The demographic, cultural, psychological, and resource burden of mass migrations is an overwhelming prospect. This is truly a human side to climate change. Although environmental factors have always and will always displace people, cause people suffering, as well as cause people times of great joy and prosperity (depending on how conducive the environment is to livlihood at the time), displacement- detachment from a place you feel is your home, disconnect from family and friends, loss of culture and language, increased potential for conflict between people who are different and feel they do not understand each other, increased strain on resources, the role of human emotions- will never be easy.
Gemenne proposed to extend the mandate of the UNHCR (High Commissioner for Refugees)- which was absent at this conference- to cover environmental refugees temporarily displaced. For the permanently displaced, he said, a “copycat of Kyoto” which consists of regional burden-sharing schemes- based on the polluter pays principle and on where the resources are- could be part of a solution. It’s Europe’s business, he said, because the EU needs to acknowledge its share of responsibility and needs to make massive shifts in immigration policy. (This is also entirely true of the U.S.)
And so we come back to it: the complexities of the challenge, the responsibility we share.
